Marines and college

This is a discussion on Marines and college within the Off Topic & Humor Discussion forums, part of the The Back Porch category; Im just wondering I got a buddy who's just joined the Marines for a 4 year term, but he was suppose to be starting college ...

Marines and college

Im just wondering I got a buddy who's just joined the Marines for a 4 year term, but he was suppose to be starting college this fall, How does that work? Does he go serve after hes done with school? Thanks

He's probably going through the Platoon Leaders program. Kind of like ROTC. He'll attend school full time and spend a portion of his summers on active duty where he'll attend a version of OCS in Quantico. Upon graduation, he'll be commissioned a 2dLt and will attend The Basic School, also in Quantico. It's a good program for those willing to make a commitment early on.....

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

If he enlisted for four years, he might be going to school this fall, but when his ship date comes, he is likely going to be off and away for what is in essence a full-time job. If he is a "92-Day Reservist" then [chances are he enlisted for six years] he will go to school until next summer, then go to Boot Camp, then go to school for the year, then go to School of Infantry the following summer.

To add to what others said, there are a lot of programs to join the Marines. The most common is to enlisted for eight years (thats the requirement on first contracts). Those 8 years can be broken down in a number of ways; for example, in the active component you can do 2,3,4,6 years in active duty and the remainder on some sort of reserve status.

In the reserves I think you generally go for 4 years of Ready Reserve (the one you drill one weekend a month and two weeks a year) then you are transfered to the Inactive Ready Reserve (you are a number in a list and subject to recall if you are needed). The thing to keep in mind when being in the reserves is that if you are ordered to active duty you put your education in hold until you come back.

To add to what others said, there are a lot of programs to join the Marines. The most common is to enlisted for eight years (thats the requirement on first contracts). Those 8 years can be broken down in a number of ways; for example, in the active component you can do 2,3,4,6 years in active duty and the remainder on some sort of reserve status.

In the reserves I think you generally go for 4 years of Ready Reserve (the one you drill one weekend a month and two weeks a year) then you are transfered to the Inactive Ready Reserve (you are a number in a list and subject to recall if you are needed). The thing to keep in mind when being in the reserves is that if you are ordered to active duty you put your education in hold until you come back.

I haven't heard of any 2 or 3 year AD enlistments lately, then tend to be 4,5,6 now.

Your friend is probably going reserves I would assume, so he will probably do boot soon, do a school year, and then the summer after go to his MOS school, doing drill periods and being in the ready reserves in between, then in the ready reserves for the rest of his 4 years unless he gets activated (very possible in this day and age).

I haven't heard of any 2 or 3 year AD enlistments lately, then tend to be 4,5,6 now.

I think its a DOD requirement that there needs to be certain slots open (I think its the Call to Service Directive, or something like that), but is then left to the individual services to dictate how many and for what MOSs. I know the Marines didn't like the idea and had maybe like 90 slots open per year for the whole program w/ super hard to attain requirements if you wanted to get into them. (hence very little people enlisted that way)

I guess if they accept him he goes to training in aug. he suppose to be a officer on base... i dont know much about what he's doing, just confused on how it works with college..

If you're interested, ask him to put you in touch with his Officer Selection Officer......an OSO is the equivalent of a recruiter for officer programs.

FWIW, something very similar can be done with Navy ROTC. When time comes for the summer cruise, candidates that opt for the Marine Corps attend their training in Quantico instead of on board ship or at a Navy base.

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

The way programs like NROTC work are you wake up early to pt a few times a week. You also have classes during the week with the program, that give you college credit. On day a week is the drill day with a long meeting usually in the morning, and then you wear your uniform on campus to class.

PLC and OCS have fewer requirements during the week, but there are still meetings one must go to and such.

I know that a Marine in NROTC or MECEP is non-deployable for their time in college, but that is not so with reservists.